I purchased my very first redfoot, a cherry head, on Sunday! Not sure how old s/he is because the store didn't know... she's about 2 inches long and was the most active of the few they were selling and kept coming up to the glass, so we decided she was the one!
We set up a 66 quart rubbermaid-type tub that's about 6" tall and 37" wide and filled the bottom with the jungle bed substrate, with one of those half-log hides in the centre. The lid on the tub can open at both ends, so we have it kind of folded in half to allow for the heat from the lamp. There's another half plant pot hide filled with moist beaked moss on the cooler, darker side and a water dish near the log in the centre. There's a heat lamp with a 50w daylight spot bulb in it - which we were told would be good, but that doesn't seem to be the case -but no other kind of heat source as of yet. I have ordered a ceramic heater and a UVB bulb that should be coming in the mail any day now. Now that i've bored you all with descriptions of the set-up, my problem...
I am having a heck of a time keeping the humidity up! As well as the temperature, but i'm hoping that will be fixed with the ceramic heater. I live in Alberta, Canada and we get some fierce winters here with temps dropping to an average of -20 once we get into December. Right now, the humidity in the tank isn't getting much past 60, except for when i spray it, where it sometimes hits the required 90 and will stay there for a few minutes before dropping back down. I have put some beaked moss on top of the jungle bed substrate in the hopes that might help, but it's not done much other than provide a nice (hopefully comfy) place for Rembrandt to burrow. Does anyone know if beaked moss is a sufficient sphagnum moss alternative? I can't find sphagnum moss here ANYWHERE and the websites i order things through don't currently have it either. Can anyone recommend anything moss-wise?
Is there anything anyone can suggest that might help with the humidity? We've been soaking him in warm water daily for about 10 minutes - is this okay? Could we even do it more than once a day? I was worried yesterday because there seemed to be some kind of white substance around his mouth that disappear when i misted him/her, and then when i soaked him he took a big long gulp from the bowl. But there's lots of water available in the tub...
I'm looking into buying the exo terra monsoon system http://www.petsandponds.com/en/reptile-supplies/c219173/p17631783.html in the hopes that that will help with the humidity over Winter, but until that arrives i'm going to worry myself something rotten! Does anyone know anything about this system, if it would be good or if there's something better? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Sorry for the long ramble.....
We set up a 66 quart rubbermaid-type tub that's about 6" tall and 37" wide and filled the bottom with the jungle bed substrate, with one of those half-log hides in the centre. The lid on the tub can open at both ends, so we have it kind of folded in half to allow for the heat from the lamp. There's another half plant pot hide filled with moist beaked moss on the cooler, darker side and a water dish near the log in the centre. There's a heat lamp with a 50w daylight spot bulb in it - which we were told would be good, but that doesn't seem to be the case -but no other kind of heat source as of yet. I have ordered a ceramic heater and a UVB bulb that should be coming in the mail any day now. Now that i've bored you all with descriptions of the set-up, my problem...
I am having a heck of a time keeping the humidity up! As well as the temperature, but i'm hoping that will be fixed with the ceramic heater. I live in Alberta, Canada and we get some fierce winters here with temps dropping to an average of -20 once we get into December. Right now, the humidity in the tank isn't getting much past 60, except for when i spray it, where it sometimes hits the required 90 and will stay there for a few minutes before dropping back down. I have put some beaked moss on top of the jungle bed substrate in the hopes that might help, but it's not done much other than provide a nice (hopefully comfy) place for Rembrandt to burrow. Does anyone know if beaked moss is a sufficient sphagnum moss alternative? I can't find sphagnum moss here ANYWHERE and the websites i order things through don't currently have it either. Can anyone recommend anything moss-wise?
Is there anything anyone can suggest that might help with the humidity? We've been soaking him in warm water daily for about 10 minutes - is this okay? Could we even do it more than once a day? I was worried yesterday because there seemed to be some kind of white substance around his mouth that disappear when i misted him/her, and then when i soaked him he took a big long gulp from the bowl. But there's lots of water available in the tub...
I'm looking into buying the exo terra monsoon system http://www.petsandponds.com/en/reptile-supplies/c219173/p17631783.html in the hopes that that will help with the humidity over Winter, but until that arrives i'm going to worry myself something rotten! Does anyone know anything about this system, if it would be good or if there's something better? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Sorry for the long ramble.....